


A Not So Delicate Flower

by StrawFairy



Series: Mafia Evans [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Feminist Themes, Gen, Good Petunia Evans Dursley, POV Petunia Evans Dursley, Petunia Evans Centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:29:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29594901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawFairy/pseuds/StrawFairy
Summary: Petunia Evans lived a good life. Until that boy arrived and ruined everything. Fine, if her family didn’t want her, she didn’t want them either. She would make her own life instead, if her parents didn’t like it, then oh well, too bad she didn’t care for their opinion anymore.
Series: Mafia Evans [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2174262
Comments: 10
Kudos: 31





	A Not So Delicate Flower

**Author's Note:**

> this is a prequel for the main fic of the Mafia Evans AU, focusing in Petunia's life before getting Harry, other characters will only be mentioned, this is strictly Petunia's POV

Petunia Evans’ life was perfect. She had good friends, lived in a respectable neighborhood, and most of all, she had an amazing and supporting family. Petunia loved her family. Loved her father, who would always make time for her no matter how busy he was, always listening to what she had to say. She loved her mother, her warm hugs in winter, and her excellent cooking. Most of all, Petunia loved her little sister, Lily, with her smiles as bright as the sun, with her natural charisma and beauty even at her young age. Lily was everything Petunia wasn’t. But she didn’t resent little Lily for it, it wasn’t her fault and she was not petty. She loved her too much for that. 

A week after Petunia’s twelfth birthday, Lily and she met  ** that boy ** , he was a sorry sight in Petunia’s opinion. But suddenly, her opinion didn’t seem to matter to Lily anymore. All Lily now cared for was the boy’s opinion and about this magical world, she would be part of soon. Lily replaced their shared afternoons playing at the park with long talks at the river’s bank with that boy. 

Lily replaced her with that boy. 

* * *

Petunia was fifteen when Lily received the letter the boy said she would get. She was fifteen when she wrote a letter and received one in reply. She could tell the Headmaster was trying to be as tactful as possible, but the facts remained the same: Lily was special, Petunia was not. Lily had two worlds she would excel at because Petunia had no doubt she would be an amazing witch. Petunia had one, and she wasn’t even faring too well in her only one. That must change. If she couldn’t have magic, if she couldn’t be as special as Lily, then she would be special on her terms. 

Petunia was fifteen when she realized her parents loved Lily more than her. Because what other explanation was for the way now they focused solely on Lily? The moment the teacher of that school came and explained everything to them, their awed eyes hadn’t left Lily for a second. She never realized, her parents had never played favorites before. However, she couldn’t deny their favoritism now. It was as if she didn’t exist anymore. Petunia wanted to scream, she was here! She wanted them to look at her with pride shining in their eyes, but that didn’t happen. Not when Lily went to that school and she was the only daughter in their care. Not even when she started to apply more to her classes. Not when she became the best of her year. 

* * *

Petunia was sixteen when she gave up on having her parents’ attention back. She was sixteen when she decided to try even harder at school because of this. She was sixteen when she decided she wouldn’t ever marry or have kids her own. If this was how her family treated her, she didn’t want one. 

Petunia was eighteen and she was graduating with honors from her school, having beaten all the boys in her year. She couldn’t help but feel smug at that, everybody underestimated her. She was just a lady and not even a pretty one. Oh, but she didn’t need to, she didn’t need to smile and get a boy to do things for her, she could do them herself. 

Her parents, of course, weren’t thrilled when she said she would go to College. Because Petunia didn’t ask for their opinions on the matter, she would go, their blessing or no. She didn’t waver, not even when they said they won’t pay for her tuition. She didn’t need to, she got a scholarship and since her parents didn’t throw her out of the house, she didn’t need to worry about money, for now. She wanted to start working as soon as possible. 

Petunia was eighteen when she entered college, she was eighteen when she received the brunt of discrimination, teachers and classmates alike. Aside from her, there were two other women in Business. That was it. They were three against everybody else. She, being there with a scholarship, was the one who had it the worst. Men being jealous of her doing better than them wasn’t new for Petunia, she suffered through three years of that at secondary school. But that had been mild in comparison with this. They never attacked her outright, they would never stoop so low as to harm a lady after all. But that didn’t mean their cutting remarks didn’t hurt. It didn’t mean her teacher’s disregard and disdain didn’t make her want to scream. When teachers blatantly scowled when she knew the answer to their tricky questions. When they had to grade her as the best in the class, their glare haunted her. She was not welcomed here. 

Too bad. She would stay regardless, she liked the feeling of having the power of knowledge too much to pass this opportunity. 

* * *

Petunia was twenty-two when she graduated College with honors, she was twenty-two when she started to look for jobs. She was twenty-two when she was faced with even more discrimination than ever. 

She was twenty-three when she was finally hired, with small pay and ridiculous working hours, of course. 

She was twenty-four when she gained enough to rent a small apartment for herself, not half as comfortable as what she was used to. But regardless of that, regardless of the constant reminders of her parents that she should stop working and get married soon, just like Lily, and even if Petunia wouldn’t tell anyone, she couldn’t help but think it was a waste for someone so charismatic and talented to not work just because she got married. Regardless of all the talk behind her back on how she should stop doing a men’s job altogether, she was happy. She felt accomplished. Proud of herself, comfortable in her skin for the first time she could remember. That was all that mattered, let them talk. She could handle it. 

Petunia was twenty-five when a small bundle was left outside of her door one first November, a bundle that changed her life forever. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading, let me know what you think!


End file.
